Election Board

Absentee Voting

Any registered voter in Oklahoma may vote absentee.

How to Apply

You must fill out an absentee ballot application. Paper applications are available at all county election board offices. You can also download the form and fill it out online, or you can apply directly online via the State Election Board website.

You may apply for absentee ballots for a specific election, or for all the elections in which you are eligible to vote during the calendar year.

Paper applications may be mailed, faxed or hand delivered to the Election Board's Office. By law, you may NOT deliver someone else's application.

If you apply for all elections, you must renew your application each year to continue receiving absentee ballots.

The deadline to apply to have an absentee ballot mailed to you is always 5:00pm on Wednesday before the election.

Returning Your Ballot

If your absentee ballot affidavit must be notarized, you should be aware that notaries public in Oklahoma are not allowed to charge a fee to notarize an absentee ballot. Also, candidates on the ballot, their close relatives, and some campaign officials are not allowed to notarize absentee ballot affidavits. You must mail your absentee ballot to the county election board.

An absentee ballot must be in the hands of the county election board by 7:00pm on election day to be counted.

Special Conditions

The law still includes some “excuses” for voters to use when they apply for absentee ballots. The excuses activate special conditions for some voters that make it easier to vote absentee.

Physically incapacitated voters, and voters who care for physically incapacitated persons, who cannot be left alone may vote by absentee ballot. These voters may apply for absentee ballots only by mail, fax, or telegraph. Their absentee ballot affidavits do not have to be notarized, but they do have to be witnessed by two people. Candidates, and their close relatives, are not allowed to witness absentee ballot affidavits.

Voters in nursing homes in the same county where they are registered to vote may vote by absentee ballot. These voters may apply for absentee ballots only by mail, fax, or telegraph. Their absentee ballots are delivered to the nursing home by an Absentee Voting Board a few days before the election.

Oklahomans who are in the uniformed services or who are living overseas, and the spouses and dependents of both groups, may vote by absentee ballot even if they are not registered to vote. (They must be eligible to be registered to vote, however). Uniformed service and overseas voters may apply for absentee ballots by mail or fax. Uniformed service voters should contact the Voting Service Officers in their units for application forms and information. Overseas voters may obtain the same materials at any United Stated military base, embassy or consulate.

Emergency Absentee Voters

Voters who become incapacitated after 5:00pm on the Tuesday preceding an election may apply for an absentee ballot through special emergency procedures. These voters must send a written request to their local county election board. The request must also include a doctor’s statement that the voter is incapacitated and unable to vote in person. The county election board has a form for this purpose.

The voter chooses someone to deliver the request for ballot and the doctor’s statement to the county election board. This person is the voter’s agent. The agent receives the voter’s ballot and delivers it to the voter. After the voter marks the ballot, the agent returns it to the county election board. The agent must return the voted ballot to the county election board by 7:00pm on election day.

In-Person Absentee Voting

Voters may vote an absentee ballot in person at the county election board office from 8:00am to 6:00pm on the Thursday and Friday before every election. In Federal and State elections only, voters may also vote at the county election board office from 9:00am to 2:00pm on the Saturday before the election.

If you have any questions, you may contact the Election Board's Office at 580-353-1880.